Gate-controlled diode structure based electro-optical interfaces in standard silicon-CMOS integrated circuitry

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss the emission of visible light by a monolithically integrated silicon gate-controlled diode with the p-n junction reverse-biased. Since the MOS-like diode utilizes the field effect to modulate the optical output, the modulation speed will benefit from this mechanism. Hence, a silicon gate-controlled diode structure for optical modulation analyzed its modulation principle, its dynamic characteristics are presented, and the bandwidth of the device is considered to approach GHz in theory due to the field-induced emission mechanism. The prototype MOS-like diode opens up the design of multiterminal silicon light emitting devices (LEDs), where gate electrodes with more than one gate contact overlap several junctions with different junction intersection geometries. The device appears as a good candidate for optical modulation within silicon technology.